Cobb to buy new police vehicles

Cobb police ordered 50 new vehicles for $2.5 million to meet the car manufacturing deadline. AJC file photo

Cobb police ordered 50 new vehicles for $2.5 million to meet the car manufacturing deadline. AJC file photo

A $2.5 million order for 50 new Cobb police vehicles was placed on Sept. 1 to meet the car manufacturing deadline.

The Cobb County Board of Commissioners decided Aug. 28 to proceed with this purchase that already has been budgeted for Fiscal Year 2019, said Commission Chairman Mike Boyce.

Then the remaining $2.5 million for more police vehicles - again already budgeted for Fiscal Year 2019 - will be kept in the contingency fund for now.

“This adjustment would effectively distribute the $5 million police vehicle allocation as $2.5 million in FY2018 and $2.5 million in FY2019,” said Finance Director/Comptroller William Volckmann in an Aug. 28 memo to County Manager Rob Hosack.

With the increase in the millage rate in July, there was an increase in “property tax collections for 2018 beyond the amounts projected at the time the FY2018 budget was adopted,” Volckmann said.

That is why the commissioners have $2.5 million in additional revenue to use now for 50 new police vehicles to meet the Sept. 1 deadline for auto production.

“The reduction in FY2019 vehicle expenditures will be transferred to General Fund contingency for allocation to other Board-approved expenditures that may arise in FY2019,” Volckmann added.